Word Origin & History

patch "piece of cloth used to mend another material," late 14c., of obscure origin, perhaps a variant of pece, pieche, from O.N.Fr. pieche (see piece), or from an unrecorded O.E. word. The verb is mid-15c., from the noun; electronics sense of "to connect temporarily" is attested from 1923. Phrase not a patch on "nowhere near as good as" is from 1860.

Example Sentences for patch

Then we had to stop up the holes with anything we had, and patch the paper as best we could.

Come, Patch, you must give up your cloak; you can do without it now.

She made him a low curtsy, one of those graceful sweeping curtsies of the patch and powder period which are an extinct art.

In the middle of the back is a patch of shorter dull-gray hair.

There is a radical distinction between the verbs “to piece” and “to patch,” as used in connection with the making of quilts.

Probably he has built a cabin, and is cultivating a patch of ground around it.

The additional words are unquestionably inserted without authority in order to patch a broken construction.

I could now make out the barrel of my rifle lying in a patch of thin grass.

I kissed each of them, leaving a patch of soap-suds on their faces, at which I laughed heartily.

Next a patch of winter-green, with white starry blossoms and red berries.